Jewel Bank, the global banking platform for the digital asset economy, has received approval from the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) for its combined full bank license and digital asset business (DABA) license.
Jewel Bank is Bermuda's first new bank in over twenty years and first digital asset bank. Jewel's services address the core banking, payments, and settlement needs of many of the world's largest global digital asset firms and exchanges, via API or web. As a full license Bermudian bank, Jewel Bank will service digital asset firms (B2B) around the world in any non-sanctioned jurisdiction, as well as the US.
The digital asset trading industry has continued to experience meteoric growth and volatility over the last several years, as trading volumes reached $2.1 Trillion on spot exchanges alone in May of 2021, with an estimated 90% of this volume taking place on exchanges outside of the U.S. Yet, despite this larger global trading market outside the US, the non-US digital asset firms driving these trading volumes are underserved with respect to digital asset banking and payments services. Stable banking services represent a key risk and pain point for market participants, as fiat on/off ramps facilitated by banks are the lifeblood of their growth and profits in trading. Jewel Bank's primary focus is serving the needs of non-US domiciled or licensed firms, providing the essential digital asset banking, payments, fiat on/off ramps, custody, crypto-collateralized lending, stablecoin issuance and real-time settlement services large digital asset firms like exchanges need to de-risk their businesses and drive growth. The bank will also plan to offer domestic retail banking services in Bermuda and help accelerate Bermuda's digital transformation.
Jewel Bank Receives Bermuda Bank License to Serve Global Crypto Firms
Jewel Bank's banking infrastructure fills a critical gap in the burgeoning global digital asset market by providing globally accessible digital asset banking from the strategic global financial jurisdiction of Bermuda. At a critical time in the stablecoin market where certainty and true stability is needed with respect to stablecoins, Jewel Bank has innovated by making its bank the direct issuer of fully reserved one-to-one fiat-backed stablecoins issued against fiat deposits and regulated as a full bank. This is a superior structure to many of today's stablecoin structures by non-bank issuers. Jewel Bank will issue a USD stablecoin, and later plans other single fiat currencies, issuing its own stablecoins and also issuing stablecoins "as-a-Service" for other banks and non-bank financial institutions who need Jewel's stack of regulatory, technology, and compliance capabilities. US regulators recently stated their desire for banks and depository institutions (banks) to be the issuers of stablecoins, as per the November US President's Working Group Stablecoin Report (link). Jewel Bank's first use case for its USD stablecoin is for Jewel Settle - its own real time settlement network that enables select Jewel clients to settle with their digital asset trading counterparties in USD, 24/7, in real time. In contrast, settling USD/fiat payments over traditional bank wires can take 2-4 days to settle out on a crypto trade that takes just a few minutes.
"Institutional banking infrastructure has been the critical missing link for high growth digital asset exchanges and institutions outside of the US, bringing much-needed liquidity, reliability, and scale to this rapidly growing global space and its demand for fiat ramps and stablecoin payments," said Chancellor Barnett, Jewel Bank's Founder, Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer. "Jewel Bank will serve as the bridge between the traditional fiat banking system and new digital asset rails in order to serve the high-volume payments and settlement needs of our large global clients, including crypto exchanges, with both traditional and stablecoin-based payments solutions."
Jewel leadership chose Bermuda as the optimal non-US jurisdiction for its global digital asset bank due to Bermuda's existing DABA1 digital assets framework under a single regulatory body (unlike the US), the sophistication of the Bermuda Monetary Authority regulator and Bermuda's top global standing in compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) measures2. Likewise, Bermuda's prior commitment to accept single USD fiat-backed stablecoins for payment of taxes and government services, Bermuda's history as a leading global financial services center in reinsurance and insurance, and the support and innovation from the top levels of leadership in Bermuda, including its driving force, Premier David Burt, were all key factors in the decision to domicile in the country.
Premier Burt said, "The granting of a full banking license by the BMA to Jewel Bank is a tremendous achievement both for Jewel Bank and Bermuda. I am incredibly honored that Jewel Bank chose Bermuda as their home and am pleased to finally be able to say that Bermuda has a complete banking solution for the digital asset industry. Jewel Bank's vision for stablecoins aligns well with our desire to support and embrace fully backed private sector stablecoin issuers. We look forward to working closely with Jewel Bank to help our Bermuda regulated industry achieve much needed banking support."